Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley chimed in Tuesday during the nightly edition of the former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the investigation into President-elect Donald Trump and election interference, telling “Fox & Friends” that the document read more like a personal defense.
JONATHAN TURLEY: Well, this report is old Jack Smith. This shows an absolute disregard for the controlling decisions of the Supreme Court. Two decisions really undermined his case, and he sort of dismisses them both. One dealt with obstruction, one dealt with immunity. He minimized both… But this report really says more about Smith. It reads more like a defense argument than a prosecution argument. But he defends himself. You know, he says it’s funny that he was involved in politics. Well, that’s not the opinion of many people. I mean, since we’ve already seen almost everything in this report, he released a lot before the election. None of us could understand the reasons for going public, except to influence the election. And it didn’t work.
A shared image featuring US Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
In a lengthy report released early Tuesday by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Smith said his office fully stood behind the decision to file criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal attempts to retain power” after he lost 2020 elections.
Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the election in 2024. The department then decided that the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of the way it interprets the Constitution.
“The Ministry’s position that the Constitution prohibits the continuation of the accusation and criminal prosecution of the President is categorical and does not address the gravity of the crime for which he is charged, the strength of the Government’s evidence or the basis of the criminal prosecution, which the Office fully supports,” the report states.
In an early Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump called Smith “desperate” and “disturbed” for releasing his “false findings” in the middle of the night.
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
